What is a company?

In this talk, Susan will consider what might be described as the first question in corporate law, and also the last: what is a company? Despite the iniquitousness of the corporate legal form, defining exactly what a company is remains surprisingly contested and unsettled. The presentation will cast an historical lens over the legal form and in doing so attempt to define what company is by taking account of its constitutive parts and how they came together as the modern company in 1657. The origins of directors' duties will also be considered. In the final part of the presentation, she will apply the insights to consider briefly the modern company as a legal entity in its own right.